


until darkness killed the light

by havisham



Series: havisham's SASO 2017 works collection [24]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - In The Flesh Fusion, Alternate Universe - Zombies, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-18
Updated: 2017-06-18
Packaged: 2018-11-15 15:45:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11234127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/havisham/pseuds/havisham
Summary: Kuroko Tetsuya was one of the first subjects that had responded well to the medication. By the first week, his eyes had cleared. By the second, he was able to form sentences, having retained faultless manners from his past life.





	until darkness killed the light

**Author's Note:**

> Written for SASO 2017, Bonus Round 2: Tic-Tac-Toe, for the [prompt:](http://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/22249.html?thread=11798761#cmt11798761) _Aokuro, susanne sundfør's lyrics edition -- "until the darkness killed the light"._
> 
> I was ~inspired by the song that A1 comes from, and had to write this _In the Flesh_ AU. I realize it's semi-obscure, so basically, in the world of _In the Flesh_ , the zombie apocalypse happened, it was awful, but some scientists were able to formulate a medication that brought zombies back to consciousness -- they're supposed to be reintegrated into society as PDS (Partially Deceased Syndrome) sufferers. 
> 
> It's an amazing show and extremely (canon) gay, I highly recommend it. 
> 
> I gave Kuroko some of Simon's backstory.

Kuroko Tetsuya was one of the first subjects that had responded well to the medication. By the first week, his eyes had cleared. By the second, he was able to form sentences, having retained faultless manners from his past life. Midorima, who had been assigned to observe him, thought that if you ignored certain, telltale signs, it was easy to pretend that the slight young man was perfectly normal, albeit a little bit blank around the edges. It was easy to forget about him.  


Kuroko had no memory of the time between his rising and receiving his first dose of medication.  


It was for the best.  
*  
“Midorima-san, why don’t I have visitors?” Kuroko asked him, during one of their sessions. Midorima, momentarily thrown by the question, could only stare at Kuroko for a moment. How had he noticed this? Most visitors were conducted to private rooms like this one. 

Kuroko stared back at him calmly. 

Midorima harrumphed for a moment, to cover his embarrassment and shuffled his papers around. He frowned. “Well, Kuroko-kun, it seems that your parents had already passed away before your accident. After the Uprising, it became more difficult, as you know, to track down other people. Please wait a little longer, and I am sure you will have visitors.”  


Kuroko nodded slowly. “I remember … I was living with a boy and a girl, before my --”

“Yes,” Midorima said, hurriedly, “I am glad you are starting to remember you last days. That’s important to keep your memories of your human life. It will connect you closer to your present … l- _existence._ ” 

"I see." 

*

Momoi Satsuki was a pretty young woman with a somber expression on her face. After some serious searching, she was presented to Midorima as the only person who was willing to see Kuroko. She refused to answer most of his questions, although she asked her own questions, mostly on how much Kuroko remembered, how much he talked about the day he rose from the dead. 

“I hope you are not planning to do anything cruel to ruin Kuroko-kun’s progress,” Midorima said to her severely, as he conducted her to the room where Kuroko was waiting. “He’s one of our best subjects.” 

She didn’t look at him. “I loved Tetsu-kun.” 

“Encouraging.” 

*  
From the purely research perspective, the Momoi interview was significant for several reasons. The subject, Kuroko, recognized her instantly, although he had last seen her in his untreated condition. He got up from his chair and she shrank back, alarmed, before his restraints made themselves felt. He sat down again. 

“Forgive me, Momoi-san. I can’t pull out the chair for you.” 

“It’s all right, Tetsu-kun,” she said, taking a seat. “I was told that you were lonely.” 

Kuroko shrugged. “There’s no one here I know. Where is Aomine-kun? He didn’t want to come, I suppose.” 

A long silence stretched out before them. 

Momoi began to cry. 

Kuroko made another, abortive gesture to comfort her. 

Finally, Momoi seemed to gather herself up, dabbing away her tears. “So you really don’t remember?” 

“Remember what, Momoi-san?” 

Another silence, shorter this time. 

“After you died, Dai-chan took it the hardest. I think he blamed -- well, he would visit your grave everyday. But on the day of -- when it happened. You came back to us. And you were so much _stronger_ than you had been before --” 

“I killed him,” Kuroko said, his face perfectly expressionless. 

“Yes,” she said, steadily, “you did.” 

“Thank you for seeing me, Momoi-san,” Kuroko said, his head sinking down into his arms. “I understand if you can’t in the future.” 

“I-I don’t blame you, Tetsu-kun. I understand that those who were untreated don’t -- I mean, they don’t --” 

“Yes, but it was still me. I still did that.” Kuroko looked up, past Momoi, to direction where Midorima was watching. “I’d like to request an end of this interview. Please.” 

*

It was twenty-four hours after that interview that Kuroko disappeared from his locked cell and escaped from the facility entirely. Midorima didn’t see him again, although the rumors told that the Undead Emperor's forces had recruited someone with some interesting abilities. 

All of this was, however, pure speculation.


End file.
